Things to Do in Longmont in the Fall: The Ones My Family Never Misses

Summer gets all the credit around here, and I understand why — lake days at Union Reservoir are hard to argue with. Fall is the one I look forward to. The heat breaks, the foothills go gold from the top down, and this town packs about nine weeks of fun weekends into a row. So here are the things to do in Longmont in the fall from someone who’s been doing them since she was a kid, and is now happily bringing her own kids to all of them.

Cider donuts and the pumpkin patch run

This is the non-negotiable one at my house. Ya Ya Farm & Orchard on the north side of town runs from late summer into November with pick-your-own heirloom apples, hayrides, and cider donuts that are worth the drive by themselves. They have Percheron draft horses, which will occupy a four-year-old for a solid hour.

Rocky Mountain Pumpkin Ranch out on Ute Highway is the other stop, open mid-September through the first of November with a hay maze, a certified-organic patch, and a dragon roller coaster. Admission is free, and the extras run a few dollars each.

If you want the full-scale version, Anderson Farms in Erie has the sprawling corn maze, wagon rides, and the pumpkin cannon, and it turns into Terror in the Corn after dark once October hits. Ollin Farms here in Longmont does a salsa festival in September with hayrides and everything they grew that summer turned into dip.

Go on a weekday morning if you can. Same farms, a third of the people.

Oktoberfest, art on Main, and a downtown that shows up

Left Hand’s Oktoberfest at The Garden is the September event people plan around — polka, brats, stein holding, costumes, the whole thing done properly. Earlier in the month, Longmont Arts Week takes over downtown with ArtWalk on Main, food trucks, and half a dozen stages, and it closes out with an open-air music festival at Roosevelt Park.

Then in late October and early November, the Día de Muertos celebrations run — Colorado’s longest-running Day of the Dead festival, with ofrenda tours, museum exhibitions, and the Catrina Ball. It’s one of the best things this town does and a lot of newcomers have no idea it exists.

Where to catch the fall color near Longmont before it’s gone

The color moves downhill, so you get two separate seasons if you time it right.

Mid-to-late September is the window for the Peak to Peak Byway, about forty minutes up Highway 7 from town, where the aspens line the road. Go on a weekday and start early, because everyone on the Front Range has the same idea on a Saturday.

Down here in town, the cottonwoods along the St. Vrain Greenway and the water at Golden Ponds peak roughly October 5th through the 20th. That’s the walk I do most — flat, close, and the light in the late afternoon is worth rearranging your day for. Sandstone Ranch and the trails around Union Reservoir hold their color a bit longer, and the reservoir with the foothills behind it in October beats the summer version.

One planning note: Longs Peak usually takes its first real snow around the 15th to the 20th of October, and that’s your signal that the high country is done and the in-town color is at its best.

Halloween in Longmont is a whole thing

The Halloween Parade and Trick or Treat Street runs down Main Street in the morning and ends with kids collecting candy from the downtown businesses, and it’s the most small-town thing that happens here all year. For adults, Haunt the ‘Mont is a 21+ downtown crawl that benefits the St. Vrain Valley Schools Education Foundation, and the Dickens Opera House — which has a genuine haunted reputation — runs a horror film festival in September.

Dates shift year to year, so check the city and Visit Longmont calendars in early September and put them on your calendar before they fill.

The season that sells people on this town

Every year I take somebody out looking in October who came here for the schools or the price or the commute, and somewhere between the orchard and the greenway they stop asking about square footage. Fall is when Longmont makes its own case. You get a real downtown that throws parades, farms fifteen minutes from your front door, and the mountains close enough for an afternoon.

If you’re new here, pick three things off this list and go do them this month. And if you’re trying to figure out which Front Range town you actually want to wake up in, that’s the conversation I like having most.

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About Tavri Gipson

I’m Tavri Gipson, a Northern Colorado Realtor® born and raised in Longmont. Today, my husband and I are raising our two girls here on the Front Range, and I help buyers and families find more than the right house. I help them find the community that fits the life they want to build.

From Longmont and Loveland to Erie, Louisville, Lafayette, Boulder, Firestone, and Frederick, my approach is simple: honest guidance, firsthand local knowledge, and a real conversation about what everyday life will look like after the moving boxes are gone.

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